Middle
by xTheCherryx
Summary: No one ever said confessing your love was easy and he hadn't even been planning on doing it, but there was simply no way of escaping Sabo's watchful eyes, was there? Now, how to make it out of this situation with his dignity still intact... [SaboAce, Modern!AU]
Some SaboAce I wrote, while I should've been studying for my exams. I guess you can call this fluff... Anyway, enjoy. :)

Title and quote are from the song 'Middle (feat. Bipolar Sunshine)' by DJ Snake, which I've been listening to while writing. Though more for the atmosphere than the lyrics, I guess.

* * *

 _ **Middle.**_

 _ **To make it alright, alright for us. I'll promise to build a new world for us two. With you in the middle.**_

"I can tell you're upset, so spill. What's the problem?" Sabo looked at him, clearly irritated, as he leaned against the rough wall of one of the two buildings forming the dimly lit alley he had led Ace to.

They had come to a bar just around the corner of their apartment block; Luffy and the others were still inside, chatting away happily, obliviously. Ace hadn't meant to be so obvious, but who was he kidding? It was Sabo he had been trying to delude after all, an almost impossible task, since he hadn't even been able to properly fool himself. Sabo had picked up on his sour mood, had probably watched him closely—he always did, especially if he was planning on confronting somebody about it later. He'd gather evidence, until he was convinced something was off, and then he'd give you that unimpressed, analytical look, 'Don't give me shit now' written all over his face, sea blue gaze steady and unnerving, weighing you down, peeling back every carefully put on layer of self-delusion, until your very soul lay bare before him, exposed and ready for the scrutiny.

Ace wasn't able to hold Sabo's gaze, not even with the sparse light barely providing any sort of illumination, because it was still enough to make those sea blue pools gleam at him in the semi-darkness, Sabo's clear cut features thrown into sharp relief by the nocturnal synergy of cobweb covered streetlights and a muted, moonless, cloud streaked midnight sky. He stared at his feet instead, hands thrust into the pockets of his faded, worn jeans, fingers twitchily playing with his apartment key, the pad of his pointer caressing the jagged edges of the bit, memorising the hills and valleys.

"'s nothing," Ace mumbled, lowering his chin and sucking in his lips, dimpling his cheeks; his toes curled in his shoes and the dark waves of his bangs fell into his face, successfully covering his eyes.

"Bullshit."

Alright, that didn't go as planned and he should've known it, but hey, 'Hope dies last' or something like that anyway.

Ace dragged one hand through his mess of raven hair, pretending to be annoyed by Sabo's demeanour, a long drawn sigh leaving his lips, sounding as if he had tried to explain everything for the hundredth time tonight and Sabo still wasn't getting it. There was always the option of pretending for a little while longer. Maybe Sabo got bored and decided he had stood outside, in the brisk night breeze, for long enough, waiting for an answer Ace unmistakably didn't want to give.

To Ace's dismay, Sabo only crossed his arms in front of his chest and lifted an eyebrow, emphasising his 'Who do you think you're kidding?' expression. All that was missing was him impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. That, on the other hand, would've expressed that he actually didn't want to be here, and he looked more like he wanted to be right here.

"I got all night, you know," Sabo said, and Ace looked down the alley, suddenly immensely interested in a few passers-by, who seemed to have way more fun than he did right now.

It was inevitable, was it not?

"Alright, just…don't get mad, okay?" he said, for lack of a better opening, his ashen eyes still set on the small group of people, who had now stopped to tell some inside jokes, their boisterous laughter only heightening the already thick tension between the two of them. They shouldn't be standing out here, staring at each other in almost silence, either. No, they should be inside the bar, with Luffy and their friends, drinking and laughing as well, but Ace just hadn't been able to pull himself together, and had therefore stared menacingly at the person who had annoyed him the most this evening—Trafalgar Law.

Luckily, Law had chosen to ignore his glares and pretended like he wasn't even there. Sabo, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter. At first, he had only questioningly raised an eyebrow when he had caught Ace staring. The second time, however, he had raised both eyebrows, silently telling Ace that he clearly wasn't amused anymore and to call it quits right now. Half an hour later found them in the alley behind the bar, with Sabo investigating the cause of Ace's death glares.

"Why would I get mad? I don't care, but I can't say the same for Luffy. Although he'll probably just laugh it off, like he always does when you've developed a new stage of brotherly overprotectiveness. I must say, though, you're outdoing yourself this time, Ace! And Law of all people…" Sabo made a show of shaking his head to underline his irritation and to make sure even Ace got the point.

"You think this is about Luffy?" Ace asked disbelievingly, finally turning towards Sabo, grey eyes agape.

"Uh…it's not?" Sabo's voice sounded more than just a little surprised and confused, and for the first time his confident expression wavered a bit, giving way to one of slight bewilderment.

"No, you idiot!" Ace blurted out and regretted it the moment the words had left his mouth. "I mean…" he began in a desperate attempt to save what little was left of his dignity, before Sabo got a chance to exploit his lapse, raising his arms in what was supposed to be a distracting manner.

"I'm sorry!? I mean, who else could it possibly be? You're only this possessive with Luffy and-…"

Oh well.

An unnerving silence filled the space surrounding them, while Ace agonised over how to escape this disconcerting situation without simply dashing down the alley and out of sight—he wasn't one to run from a confrontation after all—yet at the same time keeping a close eye on Sabo's face, in order to anticipate what he would say or do next, cataloguing every twitch of his eyelid and the continuous lift of his brow.

"Oh," Sabo said at last and very unimaginatively, his lips perfectly forming around the syllable, putting Ace on edge, his skin crawling with uneasiness, as he gaped at Sabo in what could not be called anything else but incredulity.

"But-"

"Just stop flirting with him while I'm around, okay?" Ace cut him off brusquely, hands shoved back into his pockets once more, eyes directed at the entrance to the alley again, to avoid Sabo's, and lips pushed outward in an odd and rather uncharacteristic half-pout.

"What!?" Sabo sputtered—yes, sputtered—and pushed himself off the wall, stepping towards Ace.

"Oh, don't pretend you don't think he's good-looking. I know you do and I get it, okay. I just don't wanna be…around while you're trying to win him over," Ace explained, drawing up his shoulders, until they were almost below his ears, still refusing to look at Sabo.

Neither of them said another word for a couple of moments, both too caught up in their own thoughts, until Sabo suddenly burst out laughing, the gleeful noise echoing off the alley's walls.

Ace narrowed his eyes and looked at him, clearly a bit sour and definitely not alright with being made fun of.

"What's so funny?" he demanded to know, eyes focused on Sabo, holding his belly, while the laughter continued.

"Y-You think I'm flirting with Law? That I got a thing for him?" Sabo pressed out in between two whistling breaths. By now, tears had started to gather at the corner of his eyes.

"Uhm…yeah?"

Another burst of laughter erupted from Sabo's lips, before he tried to compose himself again, panting and almost failing, clutching his sides, while the occasional giggle managed to escape him every now and then. He wiped away the tears with the back of his hand, sighing in what sounded suspiciously like relief.

"I'd say you're the idiot here, but that's already common knowledge," he joked, looking at Ace again, before his face suddenly turned serious and every trace of mischief in his sea blue orbs had vanished within the blink of an eye. "Honestly, Ace, I'm not into Law and I'm definitely not flirting with him. I have no idea how you came up with this…" He cocked his head, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips again.

"Well, you're always talking to him when he's around. And you give him that look sometimes," Ace desperately tried to justify his accusations, which seemed more and more insupportable with every passing second.

"Yeah, I'm talking to him, because we get along surprisingly well. And I give him _that_ look, because sometimes I wonder how Luffy's managed to befriend a guy like him. They're just worlds apart…or so it seems."

Sabo walked up to stand in front of Ace, an affectionate smile lighting up his scarred face as he leaned forward to peek under the shadow Ace's bangs were, once again, casting over parts of his face in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.

"Come on," Sabo whispered, before he suddenly slapped Ace's upper arm good-naturedly. "No reason to switch to over-protective-eldest-brother-mode, _nii-chan_ ," Sabo joked and he only ever used that nickname when Ace had definitely gone all out again, and probably way too far as well. The bastard was mocking him and there wasn't even anything Ace could think of to retort in a proper fashion.

Suddenly, however, the hand on his upper left arm tensed and strong fingers curled around his bicep, to hold him in place it seemed.

"Come to think of it, though, you usually don't go all out when I'm concerned. It only ever gets this bad if it's Luffy…" Sabo thought aloud and Ace could feel his scrutinising stare weighing down on him.

Well, it seemed they were back to where they had started off earlier once again.

Ace bit his lip, hands still in his pockets, gaze glued to the ground—there was no way he was going to look at Sabo right now. He may have as well yelled it out into the night otherwise, and it still could not have been any clearer.

"I…might have…could have…" he began, words so soft they were barely audible and Ace wasn't even sure if Sabo had heard them, hell, he wasn't even sure if he had actually said something, although the burning in his cheeks seemed to be a clear indication that he had.

"Yes?" Sabo asked, when Ace had been silent for a bit, leaning in some more, and Ace could suddenly feel the heat radiating off his face and warming his own skin. He swallowed heavily, fingers in his pockets clutching onto the fabric of his pants nervously.

"I-I think I…like you…" he whispered.

The laughter from the end of the alley cut through the ominous silence like a merciless blade, dying away as quickly as it had risen, as the passers-by walked past.

Ace didn't dare to look up, Sabo was still too close; in fact, he hadn't even moved a millimetre from where he had leaned in before, when he had tried to better understand Ace's hesitantly mumbled words. Then, Sabo moved after all, but Ace could still feel the sure grip of his hand on his left arm, the touch burning him through his hoodie with how hyper-aware he was of it, right where his name had been inked into his skin.

"Can I kiss you?"

Ace's head jerked up involuntarily, anthracite eyes widening incredulously, as they took in Sabo's calm air, his expression not, in the least, betraying his motives or what he was really thinking—a carefully composed mask, with maybe just a hint of curiosity smoothing the edges—and yet his blue eyes sparkled with some held back emotion; impatience maybe?

"Uhh…" This time it was Ace's turn to say something trite and monosyllabic.

Sabo, however, had apparently decided to take matters into his own hands and simply leaned forward again, closer than ever before, mind you, and gently pressed his lips to Ace's, the sides of their noses slightly brushing against the other's.

He tasted enticingly sweet, which was probably only Ace's very vivid imagination, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

Just that it was over way too soon for his liking and then Sabo's big blue eyes were back in his field of vision, looking at him expectantly through a garland of thick blond lashes.

"I guess I like you, too," Sabo said, so nonchalantly it left Ace tongue-tied and not without admiration for how well composed he was—although he never would've openly admitted that, of course.

When the words sank in, however, a so far unknown warmth spread through his entire body, flooding even into the farthest corners and curling in his belly and chest, rushing to his head. His nerve ends prickled with joy, excitement and happiness, while his heart thumped away gleefully at this most recent revelation.

He didn't really think twice when he asked, "Can you kiss me again?"

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Reviews are appreciated! Dankeschön and thanks for reading! :)


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